Data is revolutionising how businesses operate, enabling them to better understand their customers, achieve operational efficiencies, and drive innovation and growth.
Yet the sheer amount of data present within organisations can make it extremely challenging to track and manage – a problem complicated by the fact data is often locked in silos and scattered between channels, cloud apps and internal systems. Redundant, obsolete, or trivial data (otherwise known as ROT) can account for up to 80% of an organisation’s data lingering on systems, presenting an unknown level of hidden risk.
Not surprisingly, many companies struggle to unlock the full power of their data, meaning investments go to waste and opportunity costs are incurred. More worryingly, poor data security governance makes it harder to remain compliant in an increasingly complex regulatory landscape, or defend against data breaches which can lead to serious financial costs and reputational damage.
So how can companies protect their data “in the wild” and make comprehensive data security the business imperative it should be?
Visibility is key
In an ideal world, firms would have full visibility over their data in order to mitigate risks and gain the insights they need, says Karl Triebes, who is chief product officer at Forcepoint, a market leader in the data security space. In reality, insufficient personnel, time constraints, high costs and other barriers make safeguarding data tougher than ever.
“Many companies are at a point where they are working harder but not necessarily smarter to stay safe,” Triebes says. “Security leaders are doing the right thing but getting poor results, which isn’t an option when it comes to data security.”
Part of the problem is that the average company deploys between 50 and 75 cyber technologies at any given time, which all need to integrate well to be successful. But when managing so many technologies this is rarely the case, leading to frustrating false positives and error-ridden reporting.
Firms need large data teams with varying specialties to manage so many conflicting technologies, and that requires significant investment.
“With privacy regulations now covering more than 70% of the world, enterprises are under increasing pressure to enhance security measures,” says Triebes. “But their data teams face a near-impossible task in ensuring the myriad technologies in play remain compliant as each new version or reversion is launched.”
The shift toward hybrid and remote work has become the new normal, requiring a fresh approach to cybersecurity
Unified approach
The fact that data breaches – both intentional and accidental – are becoming more common only compounds the problem. Sensitive company data is increasingly managed by third parties in the cloud, expanding the attack surface faced by organisations. And the rise of remote working means data is now regularly accessed outside the office on unmanaged and personal devices, further increasing the risks.
“Dispersed teams are working from anywhere with data everywhere, but not always safely – especially as new and unknown technologies come into play,” says Triebes. “The shift toward hybrid and remote work has become the new normal, requiring a fresh approach to cybersecurity that prioritises data security wherever it resides.”
Firms must adopt a unified approach to data security to simplify the task of securing their workforces beyond office premises, prioritising data security irrespective of its location. This in turn will help security leaders prevent breaches and simplify compliance by safeguarding information wherever people work, access and use sensitive data.
Yet many conventional data security tools fail to offer a truly unified approach, because they do not account for the contextual significance of business data, meaning potential security gaps remain.
‘Data security everywhere’
Forcepoint helps organisations overcome this problem with a “data security everywhere” approach that protects sensitive company data wherever it resides. The firm, which supports 12,000 businesses around the world, across multiple industries, recently launched two new solutions that are transforming the way organisations deal with data blind spots.
The Forcepoint Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) solution uses artificial intelligence to deliver real-time visibility, ease privacy compliance and minimise risk for data stored across cloud applications or on premises.
It finds and identifies whether data such as personally identifiable information (PII) or health records are stored in an organisation’s network folders, cloud directories and devices, then classifies and catalogues that data based on user parameters.
“Forcepoint DSPM allows users to find and prioritise the most important vulnerabilities in their data while gaining real-time insights,” says Triebes.
“The contextual awareness garnered allows security leaders to be both proactive and reactive to eliminate the risk, depending on what makes the most sense for the business. Risk remediation is truly one of the elements of Forcepoint DSPM that makes it so unique – and this wouldn’t be possible without AI.”
Forcepoint ONE Data Security meanwhile is a fully cloud-native data loss prevention solution that provides unified security management, helping organisations simplify security. It covers key channels including cloud applications, web, email and endpoints, while providing a single dashboard to see all data and a single security policy to protect it all.
It also offers more than 1,700 predefined policies, templates and classifiers to streamline companies’ compliance efforts globally, making it easier to navigate regulatory risk.
This unified approach to data security management eliminates many of the headaches and potential gaps that security leaders face with legacy solutions, says Triebes. It also cuts costs, with Forcepoint customers typically achieving efficiency savings of up to 31% by reducing complexity and improving productivity.
“In a world where everything is connected yet everyone is dispersed, there has never been a more opportune or critical time to safeguard sensitive data,” he concludes. “By executing a comprehensive Data Security Everywhere strategy, firms, regardless of size or industry, can truly safeguard the usage of data wherever it resides.”
For more information please visit forcepoint.com
